John Lott certainly hits on several of them. I’m definitely the hopeless suburban kid who was never exposed to it. I understand the importance of hunting for wildlife management, and certainly don’t have any problem with it, but I’m just not one. The barriers to entry for this sport are certainly rather high, wouldn’t you agree? And I don’t just mean the fees.

I mean that after shooting the deer, I would have little idea what to do with it. I’m not even sure I could follow that video successfully. It seems complicated to me, something you’d have to have someone who knows walk you through.

I liken it to owning a sail-boat and learning to sail. As close as I’ll ever get is sometimes going out in a dinghy. People with whom I work who did, had a family history, inherited a boat, and knew all the ins and outs – and lived near water to carry-on the tradition.
As a suburban kid with anti-gun parents I’ve never hunted either, or even knew other people who regularly did. Not from grade-school through College. I’ve never been invited hunting and the threshold seems steep – and I get the feeling that I would be inspected and criticized at every turn for any inappropriate accidental miscue. It just seems real specialized.
It was hard enough learning to shoot at an advanced age, but I inherited a rifle. All the range commands were new and unknown. Nobody gave me a pre-talk on the protocols or what would happen or what would be expected, that there would be time-outs and whistles blown and commands and stuff. Zip-nada – and THAT was intimidating, especially with the consequences of wrong behaviors…

actually, hunting is pretty easy to get into. learn the way everyone does. Get yourself a .22, take a hunter safety course, buy a small game license, and then go for a quiet stroll in the woods. Shoot the squirrels you see (I can send you some videos for how to field dress em and recipies if you want).

It just progresses from there, but I really think there is a natural gene that turns on when your out hunting. Doesnt matter if youve gone before or not, once you realize your there as a predator and you will kill game if you find it, your senses turn on and the forest comes alive.

Hunters for the Hungry is a good program, but things like that cannot save hunting by themselves. Children have too many other options for recreation and the economy makes it twice as difficult to get into.